BEIJING, 24 August 2008 - With 24-year-old shooter
Andri Eleftheriou bearing the flag for Cyprus, the
Closing Ceremony at the 'Bird's Nest' National
Stadium of Beijing marked the end of the XXIX
Olympic Games and the start of a new countdown--to
London 2012.
The
Beijing Olympic Games will go down in history for
Cyprus. The irrefutable statistics show these Games
to have been the best ever for Cyprus in their
modern-era history. Since Ioannis Phrangoudis (then
competiting under the Greek flag, as did all
Cypriots until 1980) won a gold, a silver and a
bronze at the inaugural Games of Athens 1896, Cyprus
has been seeking its next medal.
And in
Beijing 2008 Cyprus came within a hair's breadth of
that all-elusive medal--not once, but thrice: Three
Cypriots finished within the top eight of their
events and earned Olympic diplomas. At the same
time, a host of young athletes provided most
convincing performances and promise to come back
stronger four years hence in London.